Hope
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: AU Sequel to 'Out of the Woods.' Christmas gift for zgirl16. Count Arganan has been placed under a curse similar to Asthar's curse but Azalea isn't around to help this time, prompting Calista and Therius to take action themselves.


**Author note: I don't own 'The Last Story' or Sir Therius or Calista Arganan. I wish I did though. XD**

**This is a Christmas gift for zgirl16, who requested me to write a Therilista fic. I hope you like it, zgirl! XD This takes place after my oneshot 'Out of the Woods,' so if you haven't read it you might want to do so before reading this fic to properly understand everything. XD**

**Warning: Therilista, mentioned AzaleaxAsthar, mentioned onesided ArgananxAzalea**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks!**

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><p><strong><em>Hope<em>**

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><p>Calista didn't really have much of an idea as of how her uncle ended up this way.<p>

A week after Asthar had been cured of his werewolf curse, Count Arganan himself was attacked and cursed during the night, forced to transform into what Yurick identified as a Bastet, a large black panther with large leathery wings.

And it took far more chains that they thought to restrain Arganan whenever he transformed. The first three nights ended with the bloodshed of several Lazulis Knights. Because of the lack of soldiers, Sir Therius was trying his best to train the other knights-in-training as fast as possible, but replacements were not always easy to find in such a short time. And because of Count Arganan being stuck in such a state, Calista had to quickly take over the position of ruling Lazulis and making sure that things didn't fall apart in the process.

In other words to sum it all up, everything was going down the drain-figuratively, of course.

Calista winced as she approached the doors leading to her uncle's room, hearing him groan softly in pain, the rattling of chains echoing afterwards. She paused, before slowly opening the door.

"Uncle...?"

Count Arganan looked up at her, sitting up straight on the bed, the sheets below him already rags as they had been torn to shreds for the past several nights. Black patches of fur were slowly appearing on his lanky form, his light blue eyes turning a dark red. Chains restrained him completely by the arms, legs and there were even a few chains wrapped about his chest and abdomen, keeping him restrained to the wall behind the bed. His wavy blond hair was slowly turning to a dark black, and Calista knew that her uncle was in mid-transformation to a Bastet already. Still, though, she had to speak to him-just before he transformed.

"Is she coming?"

Arganan spoke first before Calista could, and Calista knew that 'she' meant by the mage Azalea. The nature mage, now famous for ridding Asthar of his werewolf curse, had disappeared shortly after along with Asthar, leaving Count Arganan a note saying that she was going to travel back to the Empire with Asthar and see how things were going on there. Calista had written a letter and sent it to the Empire, hoping that it would somehow reach Azalea, but the mage had not responded. Maybe the letter got lost. Maybe Azalea was on her way but it was taking her a long time. Calista had no idea what was going on.

Calista sighed, looking down. "Uncle, I-"

"You don't know, do you? You don't know if she's coming."

She looked down, only nodding in response. A soft grunt of pain was heard from her uncle, as he was still transforming. His hair was becoming blacker by the second, and his eyes turning even darker, transcending the red it was and shifting to an earthen brown. Calista couldn't watch him anymore, and she started to turn away.

"Calista-"

She turned to him, briefly. "Uncle...I'm sorry."

His eyes widened, panicked and pained whimpers escaping him.

"Calista-Calista, please-"

She forced herself to turn and run out of the room before a roar escaped his lungs.

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><p>Calista shut her eyes as she leaned against the door, hearing her uncle cry and scream, chains rattling wildly as he transformed inside his room. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to slowly walk away from the door, departing to her own room.<p>

She had only just figured things out with her uncle, they had only just kicked Jirall out of her life for good after breaking off the engagement with her uncle's permission, they had only just started to feel like they were a close, happy family again. And now her uncle was cursed, and she couldn't wait for Azalea forever.

She had to take things into her own hands by herself.

"Lady Calista?"

Calista looked up to see none other than Sir Therius, who was approaching her from her left. A look of concern flashed in the one visible green eye (the other was covered by his thick white hair). She blinked in surprise.

"Sir Therius?"

The white knight stood, only close enough to speak with her. "Are you alright, Lady Calista? You seemed...distressed."

Calista sighed, glancing back towards the source of the roaring and rattling of chains. "My uncle, he's...not doing so well, as you might already notice. And I'm not doing so well, either."

Therius paused, before making eye contact with her. "I heard that he was cursed, yes? I was thinking that perhaps we can find a way to break the curse on your uncle, Lady Calista. That...I could help you."

She smiled lightly at that. "Any help right now would be appreciated, Sir Therius. Thank you."

"You are welcome, Lady Calista."

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><p>Their search began to find a way to break the curse.<p>

Therius used his connections with the Empire to try to find Azalea, or contact any mages that might know of any spells to reverse a curse as strong as the one placed on Arganan. Calista, meanwhile, asked for the help of Lazulis mages or looked in the Lazulis Castle Library for any clues.

They hadn't found anything yet, but they were working on it. Both Therius and Calista were sure that progress could be made on finding a way to reverse Arganan's curse.

At least, they were sure in the beginning. It had been a week since their search, and Arganan's curse was getting worse-he was transforming even earlier in the evening, now, and he was obviously far more distressed. One thing Therius and Calista both noticed was that Arganan was more silent, brooding, the name 'Azalea' escaping him. It was as if he was going mad thinking of the nature mage.

"Sir Therius?"

"Yes, Lady Calista?"

The two of them were in the Lazulis Castle Library, looking through a pile of several books to see if they contained anything that would help.

Calista sighed, putting a book away before turning to him and speaking. "Do you think there is any way my uncle and I will be able to get things completely put together? It just seems that we're never going to find any peace. I mean," She bit her lower lip, "My uncle and I...we were fighting each other for so long, and now we just only stopped fighting, and now this...this curse was placed on him by who-knows-what."

She glanced around, in case there was anyone nearby, and when she stopped she made direct eye contact with him.

"It's as if there will never be any peace for my family. I don't know what we ever did to deserve it."

Therius frowned at this. "Lady Calista, I am more than sure that your family never deserved anything like this to happen." He took a deep breath, before speaking. "We will find a way to restore Count Arganan and I will make sure that you will not be hurt in the process of finding such a way to restore him. I swear that, Lady Calista."

She seemed to smile a little at that. "Thank you, Sir Therius."

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><p>Two weeks by now had passed since the search for a way to restore Calista's uncle.<p>

Nothing had been found, but neither of them were giving up.

"Lady Calista?"

"Yes, Therius?" Calista stopped saying Therius' name so formally when they were alone, since the two had grown used to each other's presence while looking for a way to cure Arganan.

Therius, however, did not like it as much. He frowned a bit. "Lady Calista..." He started.

She sighed. "Therius, it's just the two of us. You don't have to be so formal."

"That is exactly what General Asthar told me, before he left his position when he was forced into his curse. But a knight should act with-"

"And I thought you said earlier that a knight obeys his master's orders, no matter what the order is."

Therius looked like he wanted to facepalm himself. Calista couldn't help but laugh at that.

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><p>Calista knew too well that her uncle wasn't exactly in the greatest of moods, being cursed and all, but for once Calista could tell him that she had good news.<p>

Calista smiled as she handed her uncle a letter. Despite the fact that Count Arganan was so exhausted from constantly transforming into his Bastet form every single night, struggling for every bit of the night to break out of the chains that restrained him.

Arganan read the letter, a small smile appearing on his face as he read its contents. He then handed it to Calista quietly, allowing her to read it.

_To Count Arganan,_

_I apologize for not having responded to any of your letters. I was in the middle of investigating a few cases where people had transformed into creatures during the night, like Asthar for example when the letter came. As you are reading this, I should be on the way to Lazulis alongside Asthar immediately to help you, and I should be here within the week. Also, how to restore you...I believe the book you gave me containing the spell that reversed Asthar's curse should be from the 'myth' section of the Lazulis Library, so if you can get your niece to check it should be there. I can understand why there is difficulty in finding such a book if the Lazulis Castle Library is huge, but then again if you can't find it please remember that I will be arriving in Lazulis within the week and I can help you find the book then. I do hope you can hang in there until you find the spell to reverse your curse._

_Sincerely, Azalea_

Calista smiled as she put the letter on the nearby nightstand, but then Arganan shook his head.

"Can you...keep the letter safe with you? Until I have this curse reversed." He slowly asked, making eye contact with her. "I...I don't want it to get wrecked during my transformation."

Calista nodded quietly, taking the letter. "I understand, Uncle..."

She knew that it was because her uncle still cherished and yearned for the nature mage. It wasn't good to really lead him on, and Calista was sure that Azalea had every intention to not do so but anything that Arganan saw from Azalea (like the letter he got from her just now) was something that he saw as a sign of hope, that maybe there was a chance that he could be with her.

Calista wasn't so worried about whether her uncle would be restored back to normal anymore. She was more worried that he was going to waste away his life spending all his energy on an unrequited love.

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><p>"You believe Count Arganan may be suffering from such an unrequited love?" Therius asked. He and Calista were both in the library, specifically in the 'myth' section trying to find the book that Azalea mentioned in the letter she sent to Arganan.<p>

Calista nodded, a sigh escaping her lips as she put away another book. "Yes, I think so. Even though he hasn't said it out loud, I think he still loves her. I remember when he first saw Azalea-he was gazing at her as if he'd just fallen for her, like she was the only person that existed in his life, and when I showed him the letter she sent him-he looked very happy to see it. He wanted me to keep it safe with me and let him keep it only after he returned to normal so that he wouldn't rip the letter by accident during his time in the Bastet transformation."

"And he hasn't told her his feelings?"

"I have a feeling he did, but she probably told him that she wasn't interested in him, hence why he is moping about in his spare time."

The white knight sighed. "I see. Love can surely bring both pain and joy...especially when it is unrequited." He adjusted his long braid, taking out another book and showing it to her.

Calista blinked in surprise, opening the book and flipping through the pages. "You sound like you speak from experience..."

The white knight seemed to blush slightly. "Not really. General Asthar always told me that I was too stiff to be popular with the ladies."

Calista giggled slightly at that. "Cute."

Therius blushed even more, trying to glare at her. "It-it is not!"

This only made Calista laugh even more. She smiled at him, pushing a lock of silver hair out of her face. "It's always nice to have your company, Therius..."

Therius managed to smile despite the fact that he was still blushing. "Thank you, Lady Calista, and it is pleasant to have your company as well."

As Calista shifted closer to the shelf where Therius had taken the book from, only to look up and realize something.

The two were physically close to each other. Therius blinked in surprise, looking at her in return and unsure of what to do.

"Lady Calista..?"

Calista put the book away first. She then turned her head towards him, facing up...

The two were kissing in the Lazulis Castle Library very quietly, but also briefly.

As soon as Therius pulled away, he ended up tripping and knocking down one of the bookshelves as he tried to lean against it for support. Calista gasped in surprise, helping up the white knight.

"A-are you alright!?"

Therius winced, getting up with her help. "I-I am fine, Lady Calista, but the books..." He winced as he looked to the bookshelf. "I..we should probably clean that up..."

Calista nodded, picking up a book. Out of curiosity, she opened it and flipped through the pages.

"...Therius. I think I found the spell to reverse my uncle's curse."

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><p>The spell was broken, and Count Arganan finally returned to normal-well, as normal as he could get considering that he was still lovesick over the nature mage. He kept the letter that Azalea had sent to him, waiting for her arrival.<p>

He was aware that yes, perhaps Azalea was not interested in him at all, not in such a sentimental way. But it never hurt to hope, did it?

He couldn't help but think a bit as he walked through the courtyard. Maybe he could at least talk with her again once more. Even if she didn't love him, that didn't mean that he wasn't allowed to speak with her. At the very least he could be good friends with her. There was nothing wrong with that, yes?

He looked to see Calista and Therius, happily gazing at each other's eyes, the love for each other just simply emmanating from them with every little step, every little handhold, every little movement and sound.

He smiled slightly at the sight.

"At least they have their happy ending."


End file.
